Contact urticaria from mustard in fish-stick production.

At a major fish factory in northern Norway, workers employed in fish-stick and fillet production participated in a survey on skin diseases. 122 (80.1%) of the workers in the fish-stick section responded, but only 60.7% of the fillet workers. Clinical examination and patch testing revealed 16 cases of occupational dermatitis among workers in fish stick production, 3 of whom had contact urticaria from mustard and 8 from fish. There were only found 6 cases of occupational dermatitis among fillet workers; 3 reacted to fish and 3 had irritant contact dermatitis. Working conditions are described for both locations. A greater exposure to irritants may in part explain the 10.7% occupational dermatitis in the fish-stick section compared to only 3.5% in the fillet section.

Hospital employees and skin problems.

A total of 1481 hospital employees answered a questionnaire on atopy, hand eczema, and dry chapped hands. Out of 864 (58.7%) responders, 17% claimed to suffer from hand eczema. There was not significantly more hand eczema among women (17.6%) than men (15.7%). Atopic disposition was present in 17.5% of responders, of whom a significantly higher number (36.4%) claimed to have hand eczema. Dry chapped hands seemed to be a problem in 33.1%, mainly among nurses, assistant nurses and laboratory assistants. Technicians and X-ray assistants (38%) and kitchen workers (35.7%) claimed to suffer significantly more from hand eczema than others. Their working conditions were inspected. Following examination by a dermatologist, irritant contact eczema was diagnosed in 11 of 17, and occupational eczema in 3. None of the janitors or technical workers (all men) had hand eczema.

Psoriasis: familial predisposition and environmental factors.

In a survey for coronary risk factors 14 667 adult men and women answered a questionnaire on lifestyle, diet, and health, including whether they had psoriasis. The overall prevalence of psoriasis was 4.79% in men and 4.85% in women. The data showed an increasing incidence of psoriasis. The association with family history, lifestyle, diet, and health was explored by multiple regression analysis. The occurrence of psoriasis in first degree relatives contributed to more than 90% of the explained variance for both sexes. Of the other variables, only the positive association with rheumatoid arthritis was significant in both sexes. It is concluded that the examined environmental factors have only minor effects on the prevalence of psoriasis.

Occupational dermatitis in shrimp peelers.

A total of 110 female shrimp production workers from 2 factories were invited to participate in an investigation of occupational skin problems. A questionnaire was filled in by 94 workers and 24 (20.2%) claimed skin problems due to working conditions. In 7 (6%), a diagnosis of occupational dermatitis of the hands was made. In 2, there were strongly positive reactions to shrimp. 5 had negative tests but a positive history of occupational provocation.

Treatment of mouse carcinomas with intratumoral injections of hematoporphyrin derivative and red light.

Hairless mice with subcutaneously transplanted Lewis Lung carcinomas were used to study the effects of treatments with hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD) administered by intratumoral injection, followed by exposure to red light. A tumor cure rate of 70-90% was obtained following a single treatment. The therapeutic response increased with increasing HPD doses and light fluences. At a certain dose a plateau seemed to be reached, where further dose increase only gave a limited gain in treatment response. A narrow range seems to exist between beginning therapeutic response and frank necrotic destruction. The number of mice that died after treatment increased with increase in tumor size, and there was a correspondence between the time of death and the severity of the phototoxic reactions. The best therapeutic response was obtained when the irradiation was performed 1/2-1 h after injection, and with tumors less than 6-8 mm in diameter.

Effects of mechlorethamine on lysosomal enzyme release from HeLa and 3T3 cells.

The growth of the established malignant HeLa cells was much more inhibited by mechlorethamine (HN2) than that of the nonmalignant 3T3 cells. An initial growth inhibition was followed by complete inhibition even if HN2 was removed from the culture medium. Significant cell death did not occur during the first 24 h of HN2 treatment, but well later on. Incubation with 2.5 micrograms/ml HN2 caused increased release of lysosomal enzymes into the medium and decreased intracellular enzyme activities after a latency period of at least 6 h. The lysosomes from HeLa cells did not seem to be more fragile than those from 3T3 cells. Incubation with 0.25 micrograms/ml HN2 did not alter the intra- or extracellular enzyme levels the first 24 h, but well later on even after refeeding with medium without HN2. This study indicates that lysosomal enzymes are not involved in the genesis of the process leading to cell inactivation by HN2, but may well be correlated with the cytotoxic effects leading to cell death.

Low prevalence of psoriasis in Norwegian lapps.

The prevalence of psoriasis was found to be 0.6% in 2 000 pure Lapps from Kautokeino. Similar low prevalences have been found in Mongolians and Eskimos. HL-A studies have suggested a common origin for these populations.

Hand dermatoses and sick-leave: relationship between educational level, physical activity at work and housework as main occupation.

In parallel with a coronary risk factor survey in northern Norway, 14,667 men and women answered questions concerning health, life style, and social background. The occurrence of hand dermatoses varied only slightly within groups with different educational level and groups with different physical activity at work. Women with housework as their main occupation had a somewhat higher frequency of hand dermatoses than employed women. Sick leave due to hand dermatoses was 4-5 times more frequent in both sexes in less educated compared to highly educated individuals, and more frequent in men and women with physically active jobs. These differences may partly reflect differences in the over-all frequency of sick leave.

[Treatment of acne vulgaris. Double-blind study of a combination of 5% benzoyl peroxide/2% miconazole (Acnidazil) and tretinoin 0.05%]. / Behandlung von Acne Vulgaris. Doppelblind-Studie zwischen einer Kombination 5% Benzoyl-Peroxid/2% Miconazol (Acnidazil) und Tretinoin 0,05%.

The clinical efficacy and tolerance of a combination of benzoyl peroxide 5% and miconazole 2%, Acnidazil, for the treatment of facial acne vulgaris have been compared with those of tretinoin 0.05% in a double-blind study with 40 patients during 12 weeks. The combination of benzoyl peroxide and miconazole gave improvement in 82% of 22 patients, compared to tretinoin which gave improvement in 50% of 18 comparable patients. The difference is significant. Also, side-effects were significantly less in the benzoyl-miconazole group than in the tretinoin group.

Light penetration of normal and photokeratitis induced rabbit cornea.

The passage of light through photokeratitic and normal corneas was investigated using a grating monochromator. The energy output was measured at each selected central wavelength from 280 to 700 nm. The absorption by epithelial and stromal suspensions was continuously registered over the total light spectrum in a recording spectrophotometer. The penetrating quantity of the physiologically effective middle wave ultraviolet (UVB) rays varies according to wavelengths from about 11% at 290 nm up to 50% at 320 nm. Photokeratitis did not alter the transmission characteristics at wavelengths below 310 nm. At longer wavelengths transmission was significantly decreased in photokeratitic corneas compared to normal. No difference was found between the light absorption of the supernatants of photokeratitic and normal corneas.

Phytophotodermatitis.

Several plant families contain species liable to cause phytophotodermatitis. They include the Umbelliferae of which Ammi majus has been known for centuries and the Rutacea to which Citrus bergamia belongs. Phototoxic plants are also found in, e.g., the Moraceae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae and Compositae plant families. The photoreactivity of the plants depends on their furocoumarins (psoralens) content. These cause skin damage by phototoxic mechanisms, when activated by longwave ultraviolet radiation (UVA). The results are clinical changes such as erythema, bullae in the skin 24-72 h later, followed by hyperpigmentation. For the strongest phototoxic plants the content of the major phototoxic furocoumarins like bergapten or xanthotoxin have been calculated at approximately 0.5 g/100 g dried plant weight, but it varies between plant parts and also with the age of the plant. Repeated contact may occasionally lead to photocontact allergy.

High pressure liquid chromatographic separation of furocoumarins in Heracleum laciniatum.

Furocoumarins from chloroform extraction of Heracleum laciniatum were separated by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with microparticulate silica gel column investigating different concentrations of acetonitrile and water, acetonitrile and methanol and acetonitrile, methanol and water for mobile phase. With a mixture of 42:43:15 of the latter for mobile phase optimal separation was obtained of the 6 furocoumarins from the plant. Removal of lipid fractions of plant extractions with hexane is recommended to avoid damage to the HPLC column.

Hand dermatoses in Tromsø.

As a parallel project to a coronary risk factor survey in northern Norway, 14,667 men and women aged 18-55 years answered questions concerning the occurrence of allergic hand eczema. 364 men (4.9%) and 961 women (13.2%) had had allergic hand eczema during the previous 12 months. 49 men (0.7%) and 105 women (1.4%) claimed to have had one or more sick leaves because of hand eczema during the preceding 3 years. 114 subjects reported both eczema last year and sick leave during the preceding 3 years, of whom 74 were already registered in the files of the regional department of dermatology. The majority had irritant contact dermatitis. The incidence of hand eczema appears to be high in this part of Norway and the possibility that the subarctic climate may increase skin irritancy is discussed.

Psoriasis provoked by beta-blocking agents.

23 patients suffering from psoriasis and being treated with beta-blocking agents were compared to a control group regarding psoriasis activity. Seven out of the 23 were affected by psoriasis after introduction of the beta-blocking drug. The mean age of onset was significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than that of the control group, which supports the provoking effects of beta-blocking agents. Remission occurred in 3 out of 4 patients after medication was stopped.

Trichophyton-rubrum-infected toenails treated with ketoconazole and partial nail avulsion.

30 patients with totally 178 toenails infected with Trichophyton rubrum were randomly treated with ketoconazole alone for 4 months (group A) or in combination with chemical nail avulsion (group B). Of the 14 patients in group A who completed the treatment, 4 (28%) were cured 6 months later, compared to 8 (53%) of 15 patients in group B. In 4 cases, transient elevated hepatofunction enzymes occurred. Gastrointestinal disturbances caused withdrawal in 1 case.